The Inter-State Games
by FinnickOdair-Will-Live-Forever
Summary: Welcome welcome one and all, to the Florida Inter-State Games. Who will find love? Who will find victory? Most importantly, in a competitive world who will come away with nothing but crushed dreams and broken hearts? Cato/Clove
1. Introductions

**Okay, so I probably shouldn't be uploading this just yet because my laptop's broken so I have to type on my ipod, which means major grammar mistakes, and I'm neck deep in AU's already...But this new idea is exciting, so here goes nothing. :) I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"Get your ass down here _now__, _Cato!"

"Five more minutes." Cato mumbled lazily. He rolled over, knowing that his cousin hadn't heard him.

"Open the door, man!" Marvel had climbed the stairs and was now pounding his fist against Cato's bedroom door. Twenty seconds later, he burst into the room.

"Not cool, man." Cato groaned.

"Are you even packed?" Marvel sighed, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Of course I am. Chill out Marv, we don't have to be at the hotel for another..." Cato glanced at the watch on his bedside table.

"Shit!"

"Exactly! Hurry up, everybody's waiting!" Marvel left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Cato had a quick ten minute shower before throwing on a Dolphins football jersey and jeans. He had never really felt the heat. Cato was glad of that, because sun was something they got a lot of at Palm Beach. It was blessing in the summer, and a curse in the winter. He slipped on his running shoes, brushed his teeth and then ran his hand through is wet hair a few times.

"I'm just coming!" He yelled to the honking cars outside of the window. Cato grabbed his suitcase and ran down the stairs, pausing to grab an apple.

"Finally." Cato's best friend, Finnick Odair, rolled his eyes when he saw Cato coming out of the house. His apple was already half gone.

"We've got an hour." Cato shrugged, loading his bags into the back of his jeep.

"Dude, it takes longer than that to get to Miami." Finnick pointed out.

"So then let's ride." Cato got into the drivers seat and pulled out of the driveway. Four cars followed him. One held Finnick and his girlfriend Annie, another held Marvel, Peeta and Johanna. The third was driven by Gale Hawthorne and the fourth was occupied by Finch and her boyfriend Thresh.

The inter-state games couldn't have come soon enough for Cato. Athletes gathered from schools all over Florida to compete in football games, basketball matches, swim events, soccer games and track and field events. At West Palm High, only seniors could attend unless you were nominated by a team member and then specially selected by one of the coaches. Annie, Peeta and Finch were juniors. Cato was finally a senior, and this would be his second time competing. He had attended last year with Finnick, after being put through a series of painful and exhausting tests to see if they were worthy of joining the senior football team in Miami. He'd had a blast last year, but Cato was certain that Inter-State Games would be his and only his this time around.

...

Clove's door creaked open slowly. She looked up from her book; her older sister was grinning at her through the crack.

"Melissa, what do you want?" Clove scooted over on her bed, and Melissa took this as an opportunity to bound into the room and throw herself down next to Clove.

"We're leaving for Miami soon." She beamed.

"Yeah, I know." Clove gestured to her suitcase, tucked up in the corner of her room.

"I'm so proud of you, Clove. Getting into the team couldn't have been easy for you." Melissa said. It hadn't been. Clove had put in to her schedule three extra hours of training a week. She was following a strict soccer players diet. She was running five miles every morning to keep her fitness up, and she had been working overtime on scoring with heart weaker foot.

Clove was the only junior to ever captain the West Palm High girls' soccer team. He had thought, for sure, that her role would land her a place in the Inter-State Games. She had been wrong. Despite having captained the team since training had begun four months ago, keeping up their unbeatable streak of thirty games, Clove still had to go through the same exhausting routines that all the over juniors hoping to attend had to go through. She was the youngest player that was going to Miami this year- the only one that wasn't a senior.

"It was a little tricky." Clove admitted. "What made it suck even more was that you were just handed a spot."

"I'm just support. I'm not a hotshot sportswoman like you." Melissa laughed, poking Clove in the side.

"Cheerleading's a sport. There are cheer contests there." Clove shrugged. After being a cheerleader from the age of ten to the the age of fifteen, she knew how hard it really was.

"I guess. But we're mainly there for the football team and the basketball players. Not that I mind. Cheer is cheer." Melissa pointed out. She was the only bearable cheerleader that Clove knew. They were step-sisters, but so alike that people always mistook them for blood relatives. Melissa had blonde hair, the opposite to Clove's black hair, but their eyes were almost the exact same shade of turquoise. They were both under average height. For Clove, that meant speed and agility on the field. For Melissa, that meant being light enough to be thrown around by the cheerleading squad.

"Who's captaining this year?" Clove asked.

"Annie, thank God. Made is vice. If Glimmer and Cashmere had won the vote again, I don't know if I could Bring myself to go. Cash went last year and caused so much drama they almost kicked her out." Melissa explained.

"Mel, you're better than both of them." Clove sighed.

"Probably." The older girl admitted before laughing again. She checked her watch.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" She screamed, jumping to her feet. "It's tine to go!"

Clove let Melissa grab both of their cases and her arm. She let herself be dragged outside by her hyperactive step-sister, who carelessly threw their bags into the back of her Car.

"Miami high five!" Melissa yelled, raising her hand. "It's just a normal high five." Clove grumbled, but high fived her anyway. As they pulled out of the driveway, Clove got the feeling that after this trip nothing would ever be the same again.

**Again, sorry for any horrible IPod grammar mistakes or whatever, I'll correct everything when I get my laptop back. :) I'd love to know what you think of this so far!**


	2. Arguments

**My laptop's fixed, so that means I can update more regularly. Thanks for the positive feedback, I really appreciate it. :) I don't own The Hunger Games.**

Clove was going to kill her sister. Not only had she been singing Justin Bieber songs the whole way to the hotel, but once they had gotten there Melissa had left Clove with three suitcases and nobody to help her carry them. Clove could see her talking to the hockey team from where she was stood, waiting for the elevator. The doors pinged open, and Clove awkwardly struggled with the three suitcases, trying to push and pull them in.

"Need a hand?"

Clove turned around. A tall boy with brown hair and blue eyes was stood behind her, a rucksack slung over his left shoulder.

"It would be appreciated." Clove admitted.

"No problem." The boy shrugged. Clove recognized him, but she couldn't put a name to his face.

"You know what?" The boy asked. "I'll never understand why girls need so much stuff."

"It's not all mine. Some of it's my sister Melissa's." Clove explained. She pulled one of the cases into the elevator, and the boy took the other two.

"Oh, you're Clove! Missy talks about you all the time." The boy grinned. "I'm Marvel, by the way."

"Are you two friends?" Clove asked.

"Yeah, kinda. She hangs around my cousin Cato a lot. We talk at games and stuff." Marvel said, before asking Clove which floor she was on and pressing the right button.

"She never told me about spending time with a guy." Clove frowned.

"She doesn't hang out with him. She hangs _around _him. With all the other girls at West Palms." Marvel laughed.

"I've never heard of him, sorry." Clove shrugged, sitting down on one of her suitcases. If the elevator ride to the sixty-eighth floor always took so long, Clove decided that she would just slide down the banisters.

"Really? Most girls tend to know who Cato is. It's weirdly annoying." Marvel casually leaned back against the wall.

"Well I don't really spend my time sticking my nose into high school politics. I'm just here to play soccer." Clove explained. She was already bored of the conversation- Cato sounded like an ass.

"He's a good guy, I promise. He's just got the arrogance that goes with the popularity." The elevator stopped, and Marvel pulled two of the suitcases out into the corridor.

"Doesn't everyone?" Clove asked, looking from room 271.

"Not everyone." They found the room, and Clove swiped her key card. "I'm the floor below, so I'll leave you here. Come down to the football field with Missy later, you can meet Cato for real.

"I'll think about it." Clove pulled the cases into the room and smiled at Marvel. "I'll see you around."

"See ya, Clove." Marvel nodded to her and took off down the corridor. Twenty seconds later, Melissa burst into the hotel room.

"Wow this place is amazing." She gasped.

"You're not wrong." Clove grinned. The door opened into a medium sized room that held two couches, a black coffee table and a flat screen television hung on the wall. There was a breakfast bar opposite a mini bar, a fridge that was undoubtedly filled with chocolate and alcohol, and a sound system. Curtains were drawn over French windows that led to a balcony. A door on the left wall led to a bedroom with a king sized bed. The blankets were white and the pillows were purple. There was a purple rug, a wooden dressing table, a white wardrobe, a white chest of drawers, an en suite and another, and smaller television. The door to the right of the living room area opened into an identical room, only with red pillows and a red rug.

"I think I'm in love." Melissa sighed, flinging herself onto one of the couches. "And I was totally hiding behind the corner when Marvel Diamond asked you out."

"He didn't ask me out. He invited us down to the football field." Clove said, raising an eyebrow.

"He so meant it in a date-way." Melissa said, waggling her own eyebrows.

"Yeah, that's why he said to bring you as well." Clove rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't care anyway."

"Um, Clove. He's like one of the top five most popular boys at West Palms." Melissa pointed out.

"You have a _ranking order_?!"

"Of course. 1. Finnick Odair. He's dreamy. 2. Cato Stone- His eyes are beautiful and he's such a great guy. 3. Gale Hawthorne, he's captain of the basketball team. 4. Marvel Diamond. He's the richest guy in our school. 5. Peeta Mellark. He's the most popular junior and he's on the football team, so he gets on great with Finnick and Cato." Melissa explained, holding up five fingers.

"Mel, this is weird." Clove snorted. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a chilled bottle of water.

"Want to hear the girls?"

"No."

"1. Johanna Mason. She's vice-captain of the soccer team and a bit of a badass. 2. Annie Cresta. She's been dating Finnick for, like, two years. 3. Glimmer Gold. She's a total bitch, but the guys love her. 4. Cashmere Gold. Her and Glimmer are like super bitch twins. 5. Madge Undersee- she's vice for the cheerleading squad and Gale's been dating her for months. But you know what Clove? You could probably be, like, number three if you tried. You're captain of the soccer team, you're super pretty, and you're from New England." Melissa rambled.

"Firstly, I don't care about being popular. And secondly, what does being from New England have to do with it?" Clove frowned.

"It all adds up, Clove. Get in with them and we'll be shopping with Annie Cresta and Finnick Odair in no time." Melissa said, pulling a blue hoodie out of her suitcase and pulling it on over her white tank top.

"Mel, I'm already friends with Johanna. What more do you want from me?" Clove groaned.

"It was just a suggestion. You could really be one of the 'power five', as everyone calls them."

"Power five? Are you high?" Clove asked. "I love you Mel, but being popular isn't everything."

"Yeah whatever." She threw a light green hoodie at Clove. "Put this on."

…

When he was on the football field, Cato could be whoever he wanted to be. However when he was on the football field with Marvel, the only thing he could be was annoyed.

"That's not how you catch a football." Cato groaned.

"I'm used to basketball!" Marvel protested.

"Finnick, throw." Cato said, jogging backwards a few paces. Finnick threw the football in a prefect spiral to Cato, who caught it.

"_That _is how you catch a football." Cato said.

"Football's boring!" Glimmer yelled from the bleachers. She, Cashmere and Madge were painting their nails and watching the boys, Annie and Johanna throw and catch a football.

"When are the others getting here?" Cashmere yelled, referring to Katniss, Finch and Thresh.

"I don't know, Cash! Soon!" Cato yelled back, uninterested. The only girls that Cato hung out with that didn't get on his nerves sometimes were Annie and Johanna. Annie was impossible to dislike, and Johanna was like a sister to Cato.

"Oh, I invited Missy and Clove." Marvel said, laying down and relaxing with his hands behind his head.

"The hot blonde cheerleader and the sports nut?" Gale asked.

"Clove's cool, be nice." Johanna warned.

"Yeah, Clove's alright. Her sister's kinda hot." Finnick shrugged. He muttered an apology after Annie elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"There they are." Peeta pointed into the distance. Clove and Missy were walking across the football field with Katniss, Finch and Thresh. Finch immediately went to join Glimmer, Cashmere and Madge, but Katniss stayed and stood next to Annie.

"Hey, Clove." Marvel smiled warmly. Cato shot Finnick a suspicious glance. Did Marvel have a crush? Or was he being nice?

"Um, hi." Clove said awkwardly. If it was crush, it was pretty obvious to Cato that the feeling wasn't mutual. He was probably just being nice.

…

"Missy, right?" Cato said to the blonde, after an hour of throwing a football around. He recognized her from football games, and from the group of girls that he sometimes spoke too, mainly just to stop them from staring at him and Finn.

"Yeah." She smiled brightly at him.

"You're kinda hot." Cato admitted, winking at her.

"I think you should treat my sister with more respect." Clove snapped, stepping in front of Melissa.

"Clove, it's fine." Melissa insisted.

"No, Mel. It's not. She's not on fire, _Cato_." Clove said his name like it was poisonous.

"I'll say I want thanks, little girl." Cato said, glaring at her. He wasn't really sure why he said that- Clove intrigued him and he wanted to know more about her. Cato knew that being an asshole wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Speak to me like that again and I'll beat the living shit out of you." Clove hissed.

"I told you she was cool." Johanna smirked. "Put him in his place, Clove."

"Fuck off, Johanna." Cato rolled his eyes.

"I'm out of here." Clove rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

"I'll walk you back!" Marvel yelled after her, but Clove didn't stop walking.

"I don't walk with liars!" Clove yelled back. "He's not a 'nice guy really'!"

_If I'm going to get to know the only girl at West Palms that doesn't care about stupid girl stuff… _Cato thought to himself. _I have to see where she breaks._


	3. Tourism

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"Alright girls, do some kick-ups to warm up!" Clove yelled, blowing her whistle at the girls on the soccer team. It was nine o'clock in the morning and they looked at with tired eyes before running off to get their soccer balls.

"Yo, Clove!" Johanna rolled one to Clove, who slid her foot under it and kicked it into the air a few times.

"So are you coming into the city with us later? Glimmer has this whole tourist day planned out. You know, bus rides and candy floss and shit like that." Johanna asked, bouncing a ball against her thigh.

"Oh, I don't know. I might just go get some track training in." Clove shrugged, moving from kicking the ball to bouncing it up and down on her head.

"Live a little, Clo. Come out with us. We'll even let you bring Missy." Johanna said, not missing a single bounce.

"Honestly Jo, I don't like half of your friends." Clove sighed.

"Is this about Cato?" Johanna stopped bouncing the ball. "Look, I know he's an ass but-"

"It's not just him. I don't like Glimmer or Cashmere either." Clove said truthfully. She let her soccer ball drop into her hands.

"Ah. Well Glim and Cash are kind of stuck up, I get that. But they're nice when you get to know them. Cato's great, he's like a brother to me. I don't know why he was being so weird with you, but I know that he wasn't trying to disrespect your sister." Johanna explained. Clove awkwardly tucked the ball under her arm.

"Everyone keeps telling how great he is, but if pisses me off again I'm kicking his ass okay?" Clove smirked, rolling the ball back.

"Of course." Johanna grinned wickedly. She blew loudly into her whistle. "Ten laps around the field, girls!"

…

Cato stopped Marvel on his way to the mini fridge. He was wearing his basketball kit and had a black hoodie tied around his waist.

"So." Cato said, blocking the entrance. "What's the deal with you and Clove?"

"There is no 'deal' with me and Clove. I only just met her yesterday." Marvel said, trying to move past Cato.

"Could you, like, move?" He asked. Marvel was tall and thin, like a basketball player. Cato was big and scary looking, like a football. There was no way that Marvel could move him, and Cato knew that.

"Not until you admit that you have a crush on her." Cato grinned. He made kissy faces at Marvel, who rolled his eyes.

"_I'm _not the one who has a crush on Clove. I saw the way you were looking at her." Marvel smirked.

"I don't. I just appreciated the fact that she didn't throw herself at me." Cato shrugged.

"So why were you such a dick to her?" Marvel folded his arms impatiently and looked at Cato.

"It's a test." Cato explained. "The first test is to see how annoyed she'll get with me, or if she's just trying to please me all the time. I think we learned last night that she gets _very _annoyed with me."

"You've really got to stop testing girls." Marvel ran a hand through his hair wearily.

"I asked Johanna to invite her out with us today so that I can see if she's different or not." Cato said. "Clever, right?"

"No! She'll kick your ass!" Marvel groaned. "Why do you feel the need to the test her?"

"Ever since Lyme, I don't trust girls. You know that Marvel. You know what she did to me." Cato said, looking down at the floor.

"You shouldn't let a bad experience with one girl ruin your chances with every other girl. Clove's not going to like any of this." Marvel said.

"I know, Marv. I just don't trust them anymore." Cato said, stepping aside so Marvel could move past him.

…

Johanna glared at the bus driver like she was trying to paralyze him.

"No, we're not paying that much!" She snapped, hitting her fist against the back of his till.

"Well that's how much it costs!" He yelled back. "Look love, if you don't want to pay can get off."

"Alright Jo, calm down." Cato intercepted before she could punch the man in the face. He pulled out his wallet and paid the driver.

"Cato, what are you doing?" Johanna hissed at him. "This is a rip off!"

"I'm stopping you from getting arrested by the Florida State Police." Cato frowned. "Again."

The bus driver waved them through, and the group made their way up to the top of the open-roofed tourist bus. Cato slipped into the seat next to Clove, leaving Melissa to sit with Marvel.

"Go away." Clove frowned.

"Make me, New England." Cato grinned, slinging his arm across the back of her seat.

"How did you know about that?" Clove asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I asked Johanna." Cato replied. Obviously, he wasn't going to tell her that he had gone through her Facebook information.

"Whatever." Clove folded her arms and looked away from him.

"You know the Dolphins are way better than the Patriots, right?" Cato laughed. Clove's head snapped back round and she glared at him.

"What did you just say?" She growled.

"Just saying." He shrugged. "We have Ryan Tannehill."

"Are you serious? Tom Brady is _so _much better!" Clove snapped. Cato laughed again, and she rolled her eyes at him distastefully.

"You know what, Cato? Just don't talk to me. Don't say my name, and don't even mention where I'm from." Clove said, glaring at him.

"I'm not a bad guy, Clove. I promise." Cato said. His light tone and laughter had evaporated.

"That's what everyone keeps saying to me, but I don't believe them." Clove frowned.

"I get straight A's, I have a decent job, I don't smoke, I rarely drink, I don't mess girls around, I have a solid starting spot on the football team and I've never done drugs. I swear Clove; I'm not a bad guy. I just...Do stupid things sometimes." Cato said, looking her in the eye so sincerely that Clove struggled not to blush.

"So why do you find so much joy in annoying me?" She asked, picking at a loose thread on her shirt.

"It's…A long story." Cato said after a moment's hesitation. "Look, I'll stop by your room early tomorrow morning and we can go for a walk on the beach or something. I'll tell you anything you want to know and I'll be myself. Deal?"

Clove thought about it for a moment before saying,

"Deal." Her friends had been telling her how great he is. Now Clove herself was going to get to be the judge of that.


End file.
